Stringed instrument designs and manufacturing techniques are ancient and varied and have changed in many respects over the years. Variations in instrument design have included those directed to enhanced playability, ease of manufacture, and/or tonality of the instrument (see U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2002/0100357, 2008/0202309, 2008/0105101, and 2011/0219932, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,254,683 and 7,301,085). Such design features have, over time, either become accepted features of various types of instruments or fallen by the wayside.
In particular, guitars of all types (acoustic or electric) have undergone dramatic change throughout their history, and a great many more suggested design features and alterations have heretofore been suggested and/or utilized and then abandoned. Moreover, changing techniques and styles of playing guitars have been and continue to be developed that in themselves may suggest design changes.
For example, at present, finger location and stability for certain types of picking and strumming often require fairly awkward manipulation of the instrument and/or positioning of the hand. Heavier instruments may dictate periodic lifting to relieve the player of shoulder fatigue during performances. Certain musical passages or styles of playing may dictate guitar repositioning during performance. Techniques such as so-called “harmonic picking”, produced by striking a guitar string with the tip of a guitar pick and simultaneously the skin of the thumb holding the pick, requires precise positioning of the hand, made more difficult by its suspension over the strings. Likewise, precise location of the palm for string muting while finger picking is made difficult because of the required hand positioning and lack of support in such position. Performing these precision harmonic picking methods can be quite difficult while at the same time changing fingerboard positions, guitar position, weight shifting and the like.
As may be appreciated, further design changes adapted to evolving playing techniques could thus still be utilized.